100 Days in the NICU and Home Bound

I can't believe we have spent 100 days in the NICU! Which means over one hundered tears shed,  over one hundred prayers answered, over one hundred drives to and from the hospital, over one hundred times of pumping, over one hundred conversations with the doctors and nurses, and so on..... I wasn't sure if we would be in the NICU for the 100 day, but we got there! It's amazing to think about how much my life has changed in the last 100 days. I can't believe we still have not even reached my due date yet. That's just crazy!
  Wednesday I walked in to find Ryleigh with no extra tubes on her face! NOTHING! No oxygen, no feeding tube, just a regular baby. It was a surprise to me, so of course there were many tears. I couldn't stop. I kept looking at the verse, "I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor and your wonderful miracles." Psalm 145:5 I have been waiting and waiting for the moment when I would see her face with nothing in the way. It's what we have been working towards since day one. She has been handling the change pretty well, except for when she eats. SO, the good news is.....WE ARE GOING HOME NEXT WEDNESDAY!!! Come to think of it, Wednesdays have proven to be a significant day since we started this journey. Ryleigh was born on Wednesday, she got off of oxygen on a Wednesday, and now she will go home a Wednesday. Thank you LORD! We are going to go ahead and take home oxygen for when Ryleigh eats. I think it will give us both peace of mind. I have so many emotions about us coming home. I am excited to have her to myself, but I am really going to miss all the people we have built relationships with in the NICU. Our nurses and doctors have been apart of this life changing experience every step of the way. I am not sure how I will function without them being there for me at the drop of a hat.
  I have been really bad about blogging in the last few weeks, but I feel like time is moving so quickly. We have been busy preparing for Ryleigh's arrival, and getting Aubrey recovered from her surgery. Not just that, but she is cutting her eyeteeth. FUN TIMES! At least after we finish cutting these, the worst of teething is over!
  Ryleigh is growing so quickly, and Aubrey is about to be 2! Aubrey pretty much repeats everything we say now. She loves to say the last word of whatever we say. If I say, "Aubrey do you want milk?"She will say, "Milk?" Aubrey is so used to Rod and I saying, "Aubrey, what is it that you want?" Now she will say in response to that, "I want", but she doesn't tell us what it is she wants. I love the way she says Ryleigh's name.
  I wanted to share some wonderful pictures over the last few weeks! Enjoy!

Mother's Day Pics

23 Months!

Aubrey's Buddy, Maggie

Recent Pic of Kate and Aubrey (Aubrey was not in the mood to get her picture taken)

My awesome Bible Study Girls  gave me a wonderful Baby Shower for Ryleigh!

First pic of Ryleigh with no wires!

Isn't this picture priceless? It was while my Dad was holding her!

I wasn't expecting it, but our nurse let Rod take Ryleigh out in the waiting room to meet Aubrey! I didn't have Aubrey in her Big Sis shirt or anything! It was so cute though, Aubrey pointed at her and said, "Ryleigh?"

Celebrating 100 days

I love seeing her sleeping like a regular baby!

Two Daughters, Two Hospitals

If you can believe it, both of my daughters spent the day and night at the hospital yesterday. Most of you probably know why Ryleigh is in the hospital. Aubrey was in the hospital because she had to get her tonsils and adenoids out. She has what's considered Chronic Strep, because she continues to get strep over and over again. Despite her young age, it was necessary for us to go ahead and get them out. Unfortunately, our ENT does not have rights at Ryleigh's hospital; so we had to split them up. If any of you have experienced dealing with a child who has had their tonsils out, you know it's not fun. Lets just say yesterday and last night were not my favorite days in the world. Aubrey is extremely sensitive to doctors and nurses coming near her. All the tricks of the trade do not work with her. She gets upset just standing on the scale. My heart was breaking when the doctor took her from me to have the surgery. Luckily, she didn't have as big of a melt down as I feared. There were tears on both ends though. It was not easy watching her go through so much pain and anxiety. It doesn't help that the medicine she is on tastes horrible! Things have gotten better since we have gotten home, so that is a blessing. She perked up the minute we pulled into the driveway. I am so proud of her.
  Ryleigh is doing well. The nurses have tried giving her straight breast milk to get her to take the bottle. She seems to like this much better! I guess she doesn't like the taste of the extra vitamins and formula.
We know that it's important for her to take bottles, so that we can graduate from the NICU. Whatever it takes! She is  also down to .1 on the nasal cannula! This is incredible, because it means she is doing most of the breathing on her own! GO RYLEIGH!
 Here are pictures of both of them....

This was right before the surgery, Aubrey had no idea what was about to happen, but she knew it wasn't good...

This was right after the surgery. Poor Aubrey was out of it.

Rod trying to get her to eat jello

Tam and the Fam came to try to cheer Aubs up. Aubrey LOVES I mean LOVES Aunt Tam

Aubrey taking a much needed nap in her hospital bed

Right before leaving the hospital.....

Aubrey was so happy to get home, and I got her a new baby as a treat!

My Little Five Pounder

She still loves her paci, which I am happy about!

That's all for now!

BIG Baby News!!!

We have made so many BIG moves with Ryleigh now! She has moved over to the other side of the NICU, called Baby Steps. I have to admit, I was a little sad to say goodbye to our old room. I loved having our own little personal space. I am real sad to say goodbye to our Buddy Nurse, Chris. He doesn't work on the Baby Steps side, so we are going to miss him. Although I know this is one step closer to home, which is always good. Ryleigh is doing well on the nasal cannula, and they have cut her down from two breathing treatments a day, to one.
  Ryleigh also started bottles and nursing! She did awesome the first time she took the bottle, and she did great the first time she nursed. However, after nursing she has wanted nothing to do with bottle feeding. I am excited that she likes nursing, but we are definitely going to have to get her comfortable on bottles before we can go home. Ryleigh also hit 5 POUNDS!!! I can't believe it! She is going to grow out of her preemie clothes soon and into newborn clothes. Her preemie clothes are going to make great doll clothes in the future.
  Our time in the NICU went really slow in the beginning, but now I feel as if time is flying!!! Rod has been busy working on Aubrey's big girl room all week. I am sad that Aubrey is moving to a big girl room, but I am excited too! I think she is going to like her new room. We are moving her into a toddler bed, which I am a little nervous about. Hopefully the transition won't be too bad. She does love her bumper pads, so it should be interesting. I am amazed at how much talking she does now. She says short sentences like, "Thank you Mommy", and "Bye Daddy." She repeats things we say all the time.  Rod often times will say "Hush" to Maggie when she is barking. Now Aubrey will say, "Sush" anytime she hears a dog bark. One of my favorite things she says is "An Mami" instead of Aunt Tami. Aubrey's favorite foods right now are cheese, any pasta dish, chips in any kind of dip, and anything dipped in ranch. I love dips too! She is still an outdoors girl too!
  I am not sure what life will be like when we are no longer in NICU world. I love all the doctors and nurses that have impacted Ryleigh's life. I hope I never ever take for granted the miracle that Ryleigh is.  "Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his, we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." Ps 100

Old Room in NICU

New Space in Baby Steps

First Bottle

Ryleigh loves the Mobile

Sleepy Baby

Before.....

And Now....

 

Ryleigh is not the only one becoming a big girl! Aubrey loves to sit at the big kid table with her cousins!

Our family members now have the opportunity to hold Ryleigh. It has been a long wait!

Tam

Rod's Mom or Mimi

Mom

Dad

Rod and I took a break from our daily stresses to hang out with old friends. It was nice!

Bethany was enertaining all the kids while reading

I love you Aubrey!